Monitoring Resources: Network Performance Daily

NOTE: The Network View is offering a series of reviews on network visibility-related resources and blogs available online. If you have a URL which we should consider reviewing, please send to tlandry (at) anuesystems (dot) com.

One of the most important areas of focus for monitoring is centered on application performance. So far, we’ve hit on security and data centers in most of our monitoring resources reviews. Now let’s give the applications their due, starting with:

Network Performance Daily

Network Performance Daily Screenshot

Network Performance Daily is the official blog of Austin, TX-based NetQoS. The byline on the blog posits that they cover “Anything and everything that affects network performance, from the mundane to the bizarre. The blog has been around since late 2006, and it has been referenced in national outlets such as Network World, PC World, eWeek, the Washington Post, and several key online technology websites. This monitoring-related resource is written by several NetQoS network performance experts, is edited by Brian Boyko, and is sponsored at the executive level by Dr. Cathy Fulton, CTO and Joel Trammell, CEO of NetQoS.

Among other topics, the blog itself lists the following categories as areas of focus for Network Performance Daily:

1. Application Management
2. Application Performance
3. Bandwidth Issues
4. Capacity Planning
5. Data Center
6. IT Management and ITSM
7. ITIL
8. Network Engineering
9. Network Management
10. Network Monitoring
11. Network Performance
12. Network Utilization
13. Risk Management
14. Vidcasts
15. Video IP
16. Virtualization
17. VoIP
18. WAN Optimization
19. WLAN Performance
20. Web Services
21. Wireless / WiFi

Now that is one serious list of topic areas, and many of them do in fact overlap. In addition to all of these important technology topics, Network Performance Daily also likes to include relevant commentary on amusing yet related topics. For example, on Friday, March 13, 2009, Network Performance Daily posted Jimmy Ray Purser reevaluates suckiness of NMS as a follow up to a previous post on why Jimmy Ray Purser doesn’t like Network Management Software. Both entries were filled with NetQoS commentary, much of it tongue-in-cheek, about some passionate  posts by Mr. Purcer in his Network Geek to Geek blog on Network World. If you want to read the original post, go to Network Management Sucks!!!.

These entries are great examples of just how engaging this blog can be, both with readers and industry experts. The blog is written in a very conversational tone, adding to its appeal. The topics of choice span from those that NetQoS would want to make known for business reasons to those that they feel are worthy of commentary from industry insiders. The “Jimmy Ray Purser” series is a great example of Network Performance Daily finding an expert opinion that affects them and addressing the author’s concerns out in the open. It led to some nice commentary and discussion on the blog itself, and it is a great example of the level of transparency we all need to adopt in today’s social media-driven business environment.

Take a tour around the last month worth of topics on Network Performance Daily. It will hit on some interesting technical and business topics, and by the time you’re finished…who knows, you might even find yourself amused and entertained.

Come back once you review the site and let us know what you think in the comments section. And if you know of another resource that is deserving of our attention, please feel free to reach out to us directly. Enjoy!